Retaining-wall.



No. 770,844. PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904, W. L. CHURCH.

RETAINING WALL.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 29,1904.

NO MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented September 27, 1904 WILLIAM L. CHURCH, OF BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS.

RETAININGr'WALLl SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.770,844, dated September 27, 1904.

Application led July 29, 1904. Serial No. 218,732. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. CHURCH, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements inl Retaining-Walls, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to retaining-walls, damsLand like structureshaving a concrete or cement body reinforced with steel. In a patent, No.7 64,916, issued to me July 12, 1904, is described a structure of thischaracter in which an upright wall and floor are connected by straightmetallic tension members.

The present invention has for its object to provide greater strength forthe wall or dam by improved disposition of the tension members withrelation to the body of the structure, giving something in the nature ofa truss construction.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical sectionthrough the upright and bottom walls and one of the buttresses of aretaining-wall or similar structure constructed according to myinvention. Fig. 2 represents a plan view of said structure.

The same reference charactersindicate the same parts in both figures.

In the drawings, 10 11 represent, respectively, the upright wall and thebottom wall or floor of the structure, the said walls composed ofconcrete and integrally united, and 12 12 a series of upright buttressesof the same material connecting these walls. The walls are or may beformed opposite the edges of the buttresses with ribs or flanges 13 ofthe same material for a purpose to be described.

14 14 are tension rods or bars of any of the well-known types renderedself-locking in connection with the concrete by suitable projections,these members being embedded in the upright Wall 10 and the buttresses12. A similar series of bars 15 is embedded in the bottom wall 11 andthe buttresses 12, the two series in each buttress meeting atan angleand the rear outline of the buttress being salient to accommodate thisangle. It will be noted that the three outer members of the set of rods14 have their rear ends embedded independently of the top ends of thethree outer bars of the set 15, while the inner members 14 15 of eachset are parts of the same bar bent at an angle. Theindependently-embedded bars afford a somewhat cheaper construction, andtheir connection 'with each other through the concrete is ample for thepurposes desired. That portion of each buttress 12 extending from theapices of the bars 14 15 to the angle between the upright and bottomwalls 10 11 may be considered as forming a compression-strut after themanner of certain well-known forms of truss, an imaginary strut of thischaracter being outlined in darker shading at 16.

The ribs or flanges 13 are considered as portions or extensions of thewalls 10 11 and serve to embed the ends of the rods 14 15 such adistance in the concrete of said walls as will make the rodssubstantially unwithdrawable without breakage thereof. This distance formaterial of the strength of Bessemer steel amounts to about thirty timesthe diameter of the rod.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the above dispositionl ofparts affords increased strength over a construction employing straighttension members and over various other structures lacking the trussprinciple above set forth.

I claimm- 1. A retaining Wall or similar structure comprising integralconcrete upright and bottom walls, angularly-related metallic tensionmembers embedded in said walls, and a compression-strut interposedbetween the wall structure and the apex of said tension members.

2. A retaining wall or similar structure comprising integral concreteupright and bottom Walls, concrete buttresses connecting said walls, andangularly-related self -locking metallic tension-rods embedded'in saidwalls and buttresses and includingv the substance of said buttresses ascompression-struts between their apices and the angle between the saidwalls.

In testimony whereof I have aiiixed my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

WILLIAM L. CHURCH. Witn esses R. M. PIERsoN, A. C. RATIGANJ

